USA > New York > Erie County > Buffalo > History of St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, N.Y. : 1817 to 1888 > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
September 25, 1828, the Rev. Addison Searle resigned the rectorship of St. Paul's Church.
At a meeting of the vestry of St. Paul's Church on September 26, 1828, Mr. Tillinghast, as the clerk, was directed to inform Bishop Hobart of the resignation of Mr. Searle, and to ask his advice as to who should be called to succeed him, and to say that the vestry were favorably inclined to extend an invitation to the Rev. William Shelton of Fairfield, Connecticut.
34
History of St. Paul's Church.
The bishop replied under date of October 6, 1828, that he deeply regretted the resignation of Mr. Searle ; that he had full confidence in the correct principles and views of the Rev. Mr. Shelton, and that his talents, fidelity, zeal and excellent temper and habits would secure him the increasing confidence of the congregation and enable him to be useful to them, and that it would afford him great pleasure to see him settled in Buffalo. The bishop assured the vestry that he was much gratified with the evidence they afforded him of the friendly disposi- tion to him officially and personally.
The vestry met October roth, and resolved that the Rev. Mr. Shelton be invited to take the pastoral charge of St. Paul's Church, and that the salary of $500 per annum be guaranteed to him by the parishioners, and as much beyond that sum as could be procured from the congre- gation by voluntary subscription, and also whatever sum should be received from the Missionary fund of the Diocese.
Mr. Tillinghast, as clerk of the vestry, addressed a letter to the Rev. Mr. Shelton under date of October 11, 1828, extending to him the rectorship, and said that the highly satisfactory performance of divine service in the summer of 1827, the very flattering manner in which he had been spoken of by the Rev. Mr. Searle, the estimation in which he was held by the friends of the church, and the exalted opinion entertained of him by Bishop Hobart, had induced the vestry to hope that the invi- tation would be accepted. Mr. Tillinghast also stated that it was not any dissatisfaction that caused the resignation of Mr. Searle, but the conviction on his part that his constitution could not endure the climate. Mr. Tillinghast stated the terms that the vestry had author- ized, and also stated that during Mr. Searle's rectorship the subscrip- tions for his salary had gradually increased from $500 to $700 per annum and that the missionary stipend was $125 per annum. He also stated that the parishioners had been perfectly united during Mr. Searle's incumbency. Mr. Tillinghast also stated that since Mr. Shelton was in Buffalo in 1827, the church edifice had undergone a thorough repair and had received an addition of eighteen feet in
THE ORIGINAL ALTAR, CHANCEL-RAIL, READING-DESK, AND PULPIT IN ST. PAUL'S FRAME CHURCH.
Retained when the church was enlarged in 1828. (See pages 31, 32, 384.) The Marble Font was afterwards used in the stone church until the fire of 1888. (See pages 59, 70, 275.)
Stairs under pulpit, down to vestry
up to pulpit.
rooms in Basement
Pulpit.
Cable.
2.
. P. f.
Jable.
Stove
3
4
Pews.
Pew5.
3/2
Fort
Chancel Rail.
6.
PLAN OF CHANCEL IN FRAME CHURCH.
From drawings made for Charles W.
Evans, by John Hefford, in 1849.
35
History of St. Paul's Church.
length, would be completed in about one month, and would then be a very elegant church.
The Rev. Mr. Shelton replied to the invitation on November II, 1828, declining the rectorship, and said in his letter that the call had given him the privilege of becoming the clergyman of one of the most promising congregations perhaps in the whole country, and that it offered him the companionship and friendship of an interesting people, and put it in his power to become eminently useful in the church of Christ, and offered him a compensation ample for all his wants. He expressed to the vestry the sense of the obligation he was under for their flattering predilections, and that nothing but a firm conviction on his mind of duty would have prevailed on him to answer as he had. In his letter to the Rev. Mr. Searle, with whom he was on terms of inti- mate friendship, written a short time before the one declining the invitation, he said that to accept would be taking him from his home, his good and aged mother, his family, his hereditary friends, his parish- ioners to whom he was bound by strong feelings of attachment, not a member of whom had ever had any other clergyman or spiritual coun- selor, except his father whose name they venerated, and himself whom they regarded with sensations very different from any other.
The Rev. Mr. Searle remained in the parish until the close of the year 1828, and continued his efforts to procure a rector. On Decem- ber 11, 1828, Bishop Hobart wrote to him that he had been perplexed to know what to do about Buffalo, but he had at length induced the Rev. Reverard Kearney to visit there. That he was a clergyman of respect- able talents and attainments, gentlemanly in his manner, and he thought would faithfully devote himself to the duties of his office.
On December 17, 1828, the vestry appointed a committee to collect the balance of salary due Mr. Searle. They had previously resolved to repay Mr. Searle for the carpeting he had furnished for the aisles of the church, out of the communion offerings, and out of the funds col- lected by the ladies for said carpeting. At the same meeting they appointed Cyrus Athearn, Jacob A. Barker and John Lay, Jr., a
36
History of St. Paul's Church.
committee to dress the church with evergreens for Christmas, and to superintend the expenditure thereof. This very proper custom was continued in after years.
The services on Christmas day, 1828, and the sermon by the Rev. Mr. Searle were mentioned with much approbation by a correspondent in the village newspaper, and the enlarged church edifice was referred to as being very elegant and convenient for public worship, and not excelled by any other country edifice in the State. The editor in the same paper remarked that the flourishing state of the parish was attributable to the talents and industry of Mr. Searle, and referred to the state of his health as requiring him to leave Buffalo, and that he would have the good wishes, esteem and affection of those connected with him in the church.
1829.
Mr. Searle communicated to the vestry that Bishop Hobart had selected the Rev. Reverard Kearney to supply the church services, and it was resolved that the vestry would receive him, and on January 17, 1829, it was further resolved that the Rev. Mr. Kearney be invited to accept the rectorship at $550 per annum exclusive of the missionary stipend, to commence January, 1829. At the same meeting it was resolved to pay James D. Sheppard $150 per annum for his services as organist.
The Rev. Mr. Searle re-entered on his duties as Chaplain in the Navy Yard at Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1829. He continued for some years in the navy, visiting different countries in the Government war ves- sels, sometimes writing from different South American ports to his friend the Rev. William Shelton in Buffalo. He died in the year 1850 on board the United States frigate Cumberland on its voyage to Alexandria in Egypt.
April 20, 1829, at the annual election of wardens and vestrymen, the Rev. Mr. Kearney presiding, George B. Webster and Dr. Josiah
37
History of St. Paul's Church.
Trowbridge were elected wardens, and Russell H. Heywood, William Williams, John W. Beals, Jerry Ratcliff, Manly Colton, Henry Hamil- ton, Augustine Eaton and Jacob A. Barker, vestrymen. Dyre Tilling- hast was appointed clerk of the vestry.
The parish is very much indebted to Mr. Tillinghast for the very proper and methodical manner in which he kept the records and papers of the vestry. Without his care and attention they would have eventually been lost. From 1817 to 1827 the minutes of the vestry had been kept on loose pieces of paper, and were so kept until Mr. Tillinghast procured a suitable church book and copied these loose records in it. All succeeding clerks of the vestry have followed his good example.
April 28, 1829, at a meeting of the vestry, a communication was received from the Rev. Mr. Kearney, wishing to know if his services were acceptable to the parish, and the vestry answered that they were. On the 12th of May he was paid $244 in full of his salary, and soon after left the parish, and eventually went to New York. His letters to the vestry after his departure showed dissatisfaction on his part. It was evident that he was not in sympathy with most of the congregation. The letters evinced a determination on his part not to " depart one hair's breadth " from the course he had " marked out " for himself, and if not acceptable, they could consider his resignation as offered.
On the 19th of June, 1829, Mr. Kearney, in a letter from New York, resigned the rectorship, but before receiving it the vestry, on the 20th of June, declared the rectorship vacant, and so addressed Mr. Kearney in New York, and passed a resolution inviting the Rev. William Shelton to take the parochial charge of the parish, at the salary of $600 per annum, exclusive of the missionary stipend, and appointed George B. Webster, R. H. Heywood and William Williams to communicate the resolution to him. They also appointed Dr. Trowbridge a committee to sell the organ and purchase a new one. The subscription for the new organ was commenced September 22, 1829, and amounted to $950.
ยท
38
History of St. Paul's Church.
June 22, 1829, the committee addressed their communication to the Rev. Mr. Shelton at Bridgeport, Conn., offering him the rectorship at $600 per annum. He replied by letter dated July 21, 1829, stating that he had taken into consideration all things connected with the question, that he had weighed all the arguments on either side, with that attentive deliberation which they so eminently required of him, and the result was that he had resolved to commit himself, under God, to the honor and principle of the good people of St. Paul's parish, trusting that he might be useful, and believing that he might be rendered happy under the circumstances in which Divine Providence had placed him. He assured them that he would use his utmost endeavors to be with them as early as possible, but thought it would not be earlier than the last week in August, as he had a variety of interests to attend to, and his duty to his small but much beloved parish in Fairfield, Conn.
Accordingly, on the 24th of July, 1829, he addressed his letter of resignation to the wardens and vestry of Trinity Church, Fairfield, and said it was one of the most painful efforts of his life to bring his mind to the conclusion to resign his position as the rector.
He alluded to the long service of years that his father and himself had ministered to them - his father whose honored remains reposed under their altar. He assured them that neither time nor distance would ever take from him the interest he felt for their welfare, and if prosperity continued with them, he would rejoice, or if adversity befell them, he would as strongly sympathize with them.
When Mr. Shelton declined the rectorship in 1828, it was the wish of his excellent mother that he should do so. She naturally thought that he was fulfilling his duty in his then parish, and it was proper for him to remain where she was, but when the invitation was repeated in 1829, she advised him to accept it, for she then thought it was the direction of Providence for him to obey the call, and he accordingly obeyed it.
July 30th, George B. Webster, one of the committee, addressed a letter to him at Bridgeport, stating that it had given the whole parish
"THE CHURCHES" IN 1838. From Volume III. of Buckingham's " America," published in London, England, in the early '40's. (See pages 30, 174.)
Organ.
.
Gallery Ocov
Gallery Food
forth aile Door
Bouchetiste Dove and
49 the Gallery
EASTERLY END OF THE INTERIOR OF ST. PAUL'S FRAME CHURCH. Showing the organ. (1829-1850.) (See pages 37, 322, 325.)
From a drawing made in 1849 by John Hefford.
39
History of St. Paul's Church.
sincere pleasure for him to accept the rectorship, for while they antici- pated his acceptance they feared otherwise. He said that the church had been closed since about the middle of May, with only occasional services, the present was a season of the year when it was important that it should be opened regularly, and that he feared the congregation would be a little scattered. They had every reason to deplore the recent change of pastors ; Mr. Searle had left the church in a most enviable state of harmony, and indeed there had never been an instance of want of it since the organization of the parish ; the congregation was well instructed in the doctrines of the church, and in the correct and regu- lar performance of the services, at least correct according to their understanding and, as they believed, in conformity with the practice of Bishop Hobart. Mr. Searle's successor, Mr. Kearney, without any reference to established use or to the feelings of the congregation, introduced novelties into it, and marked out a course of conduct and policy, which, while it seemed to make him popular with a part of the people who made no pretensions to being churchmen, lost him the confidence of those upon whom the church always had depended, and notwithstanding when he left there was some small degree of feeling manifested, yet soon there was only one sentiment on the subject. Mr. Webster said further that at the time of his writing he believed there existed no hindrance to an entire harmony and concord in the parish and that he had no doubt that a straightforward, unde- viating and churchman-like course would speedily restore whatever the parish might have suffered by a change of pastor.
Mr. Webster also stated in his letter that a pastor, who should possess the confidence and affection of the people, might look for much happiness in Buffalo, that frequent changes in the rectorship of a parish were always to be deplored, and that there was nothing which a people more earnestly desired than a faithful pastor who would be content to remain permanently and grow up with the parish as their spiritual head and counselor. Mr. Webster further said that the immediate maintenance which the parish could furnish was less than
40
History of St. Paul's Church.
a man qualified to fill the station had a right to demand, but it was to be expected that it would annually increase until it became a competence.
It is very remarkable that Mr. Webster, in stating the proper qualifica- tions of a rector, as one who should be " straightforward, undeviating and churchman-like, who should possess the confidence and affection of the people, and remain permanently with them, growing up with the parish as their spiritual head and counselor," should not only have described Mr. Shelton the then rector, as he was at the time, but, without being aware of it, should also have marked out the course of his rectorship for more than fifty succeeding years. Mr. Webster's expectation that there would be an annual increase of the salary until it became a competence, was not fulfilled to the extent it should have been.
The new rector was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, September 11, 1798, and was the seventh of the nine sons and daughters of Philo and Lucy Nichols Shelton. The Rev. Philo Shelton was born in Huntington, Conn., in 1755, graduated at Yale College in 1775, was ordained deacon* and then priest by Bishop Seabury in 1785, and was forty years rector of St. John's Church, Bridgeport, and Trinity Church, Fairfield. He died February 27, 1825, aged seventy. His wife was born in 1761, and died in 1838, aged seventy-seven. Philo Shelton no doubt impressed his own character on his son William. In a letter written in 1857 to the Rev. Dr. William B. Sprague, the author of the "Annals of the American Episcopal Pulpit," the son said of the father, that " he was distinguished for simplic- ity, integrity and an honest and earnest devotion to the interests of pure and undefiled religion, and was both by education and conviction a thorough Episcopalian, and his theology was strictly in accordance with
* It is said that Philo Shelton was the first deacon ordained in the United States. Bishop Seabury was consecrated the first Bishop of the American Church, in Aber- deen, Scotland, November 14, 1784, immediately after which he returned to America, arriving in June, 1785. He held his first ordination - the first Episcopal ordination in America -in Christ Church, Middletown, Conn., on August 3, 1785 ; four candi- dates were ordained to the diaconate, one of whom was Philo Shelton. (See Sprague's "Annals of the American Episcopal Pulpit," Vol. 5, pages 151 and 350 ; also Bishop Perry's "History of the American Episcopal Church," Vol. 2, page 450.)
THE REVEREND WILLIAM SHELTON. At about the age of thirty-five.
From the painting formerly owned by him, ascribed to Walker, and now in the Parish House.
41
History of St. Paul's Church.
the Book of Common Prayer. He believed in the divinely constituted church, and believed the Church in America to be a daughter of the Church in England, and believed in the unshaken succession of that Church through her bishops from the Apostles' days, believed in the spiritual efficacy of the sacraments, and in the divinity of Christ, by whose sacrifice the sins of men were atoned for. These and other kindred doc- trines he taught as essential to the well-being of the Christian religion." Those were essentially the doctrines of the new rector of St. Paul's, believed in and practiced by him during all the period of his rectorship.
In his younger days the son, William, was liberally educated with special reference to the ministry, and in 1823, graduated at the General Theological Seminary, and in the same year was ordained deacon by Bishop Brownell of Connecticut, and priest by the same, in 1825, in Fairfield, in that State.
Soon after his ordination, in 1823, he took charge of the missionary station at Plattsburg, on Lake Champlain, N. Y., and subsequently, in 1824, was the minister of St. Paul's Church, Fairfield, Conn., and con- tinued there until his removal to Buffalo in 1829.
He entered on his duties, and preached his first sermon as rector of St. Paul's Church in Buffalo, N. Y., on Sunday, September 13, 1829. He was then thirty-one years of age .*
* The following description of the old frame church was given by Dr. Shelton in an address made to the parishioners, at the rectory on Pearl Street, on the occasion of his birthday and the forty-eighth anniversary of his rectorship of St. Paul's, September II, 1877. Speaking of his coming to Buffalo, he said : " The church had been organized a number of years, and the church building had been occupied perhaps ten years. It stood on the site where now St. Paul's stands. That building was a neat and plain, but very respectable one, and we all had an honest pride in it, and were generally satisfied with it. It stood facing Main Street. The chancel was in the west end. The pews on the sides of the church were square and there was no gallery. In time the square pews were changed into slips, and then as the congrega- tion enlarged, as it did rapidly, there was a demand for a gallery, which was in due time erected and filled. Then the Sunday-school room was enlarged and was soon full of children and their teachers. . The congregation was composed of persons from various parts of the nation, principally from New England."
-
42
History of St. Paul's Church.
His salary as established in 1829 was from the parish, $600 ; from Grace Church, Black Rock, $75 ; missionary stipend, $125 ; in all, $800.
When the Rev. William Shelton came to Buffalo, in 1829, he was not acquainted with anyone excepting Carlisle T. Allen, whom he had known in Plattsburg, N. Y. Carlisle T. Allen and George W. Allen were brothers, and they, with their respective families, were efficient members of St. Paul's. Carlisle T. Allen is still connected with the parish, and is the father-in-law of Howard H. Baker, one of the vestry of 1871 and several subsequent years .*
1830.
At the annual election of wardens and vestrymen, April 12, 1830, Rev. William Shelton presiding, George B. Webster and Russell H. Heywood were elected wardens, and Sheldon Thompson, Pierre A. Barker, Henry Hamilton, Jerry Ratcliff, John R. Carpenter, Cyrus Athearn, Zenas W. Barker and Dyre Tillinghast, vestrymen ; and at a subsequent meeting Martin Chittenden was appointed clerk, and George B. Webster treasurer.
The new vestry made a very important agreement with the pew owners - that the fifty-eight pews in the church should be valued at such valuation as the location of the pew should call for, the aggregate valuation not to exceed $12,000, and that the vestry should assess such an annual per cent. tax on such valuations as would be required to pay the rector's salary and other expenses of the parish, and that the pew should be liable for the amount taxed thereon. It was found that the subscriptions of the congregation could not be relied upon to fully pay the expenses. The subscription plan had been pursued from 1817 to 1830.
The following-named pew owners agreed, by written agreement dated August 16, 1830, to the new plan of taxation ; namely, George B.
* Mr. Carlisle Tyler Allen died at the house of his daughter, Mrs. Howard H. Baker, in Buffalo, November 1, 1892, in the 86th year of his age.
43
History of St. Paul's Church.
Webster, R. H. Heywood, Dyre Tillinghast, Henry Hamilton, James D. Sheppard, John G. Camp, Sylvester Matthews, Jacob A. Barker, Zenas W. Barker, Josiah Trowbridge, Benjamin Rathbun, Stephen K. Grosvenor, Sheldon Thompson, Horatio Warren, Joseph Shaw, Manly Colton, John Root, Elias Ransom, Elias Green, William Williams, Jesse Peck, Cyrus Athearn, G. H. Goodrich, T. W. Sherman, John Lay, Jr., Noah P. Sprague, R. Hargrave Lee, Jeremiah Staats, Harry Slade, John B. Stone, John W. Beals, Elizabeth Granger, Lucius Gould, Elijah Ford.
Bishop Hobart died September 12, 1830, in Auburn, N. Y., during his annual visitation. His diocese extended 300 miles from east to west, and he traversed it every year, mostly in stages over indifferent roads, and only in part by the Erie Canal. Rev. Benjamin T. Onder- donck, D. D., was elected bishop, October 8, 1830, by the Diocesan convention of New York, and was consecrated November 26, 1830.
1831.
At the annual election of wardens and vestrymen, April 4, 1831, George B. Webster and R. H. Heywood were elected wardens, and Henry Hamilton, Zenas W. Barker, Jerry Ratcliff, Pierre A. Barker, Cyrus Athearn, Benjamin Rathbun, Jeremiah Staats and Sheldon Thompson, vestrymen.
The missionary stipend of $125 having been withdrawn by the diocese from the rector, it being considered that the parish should be self-supporting, the vestry, on July 6, 1831, resolved that the salary of the rector should be $800 per annum, the same that it was when he received the said stipend.
August 29, 1831, the vestry resolved to erect galleries on both sides of the church edifice.
October 28, 1831, twenty pews having been erected in the galleries, the vestry placed an aggregate valuation on them of $1,350, to be sold at said valuation, subject to the same tax as the ground floor.
44
History of St. Paul's Church.
1832.
Buffalo was incorporated as a city in 1832, with a population of 10,000.
At the annual parish election, April 23, 1832, George B. Webster and Dr. Josiah Trowbridge were elected wardens, and Henry Hamilton, Sheldon Thompson, Jacob A. Barker, Guy H. Goodrich, Sylvester Matthews, Benjamin Rathbun, Zenas W. Barker and John Lay, Jr., vestrymen.
George B. Webster was appointed treasurer, and Martin Chittenden clerk ; and on September 25, 1832, Henry Morris was appointed clerk in the place of Martin Chittenden, deceased.
March 13, 1833, a committee was appointed to sell the " Glebe lot," in order to raise funds to liquidate the debts of the parish, but no sale was effected.
1833.
At the annual election, April 8, 1833, George B. Webster and Dr. Josiah Trowbridge were elected wardens, and Sheldon Thompson, Guy H. Goodrich, Pierre A. Barker, Jacob A. Barker, William B. Rochester, Lester Brace, George E. Hayes and Henry Hamilton, vestrymen, and Henry Morris was appointed clerk. The services of James D. Shep- pard, organist, having been dispensed with in March, the new vestry reappointed him at the salary of $125, to be paid by subscription, but he having declined to serve at that sum, it was agreed that he should have what could be collected for the object. September 3, 1833, it was resolved to circulate a subscription in addition to the pew taxes to pay the salary of the rector, and those pew owners who had not given their written consent to have their pews taxed to defray the parish expenses, were requested to do so. It was also resolved to
-
-
=
-
$34
PLAN OF GALLERIES, BASEMENT, AND ELEVATION OF PART OF SOUTH AISLE, ST. PAUL'S FRAME CHURCH.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.